one more time
by fantasy-baka
Summary: Years have passed since the end of the war with the Arrancar, and Ichigo and Orihime are engaged. One day, they come across a child that reminds Orihime of a man from a long time ago- who abducted her, but gave her the biggest gift and lesson one could ever have in life. As Orihime watches him grow, she discovers that darkness is lurking in the horizon.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys. I've actually had this story in my mind for a while now, but have never really gotten around to writing it. Do prepare yourselves for a rollercoaster of emotions on this story, and enjoy :-)**

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**~~Ω~~**

The wind blew, and the chimes started to move on the balcony. Soft classical music accompanied the soft twinkling tune of the chimes. Outside, children ran about playing and shouting, and the sound of traffic was muffled against the tempo of Haydn.

Orihime stretched her legs a little, a novel balanced on her thigh as she did so. She moved a little to adjust herself on her husband's lap, and she picked up the book again. He lowered his head to hers. "How many times have you read that book already?"

The very novel she was reading was One More Chance by James Foster. While it sounded like a romance novel wives like her read during those late lonely nights, it was actually a book about extraterrestrial beings invading Earth on a whim, and the humans overpowered, desperately begging for another chance to live. Orihime liked books of these genres, which fuelled her terribly vivid imagination.

"I never really counted, maybe my 6th time?" she replied, her focus going back to her book. Her husband frowned. He was on a rare day off from work, and he wanted to spend time with his wife. However, she was glued to that weird book. He nuzzled his nose against her neck, his vibrant orange hair tickling her neck. He hummed, his hands reaching to envelop her waist. Orihime didn't say a thing, yet she noticed that she hadn't moved from the same sentence on the page for a while.

He started to kiss her neck, and she moaned. "Orihime?" he whispered against her. She set down her book, and placed her hands on his. "Mmm hmm?"

"I love you, very very much. Please don't ignore me."

She chuckled. Even though they were already in their late-twenties, he still had his boyish charm he possessed, exactly as she had remembered when he was seventeen.

"I love you too, Kurosaki-kun."

She turned around in his lap, and placed her hands on his chest, as he pulled her waist closer him. She stared into his chocolate-brown eyes, something that reminded her so much of her favourite red bean chocolate.

"You're thinking of that red bean chocolate again, aren't you?" he asked, smiling.

She laughed. "How did you guess?"

"Well you had that look you always get when you see anything with red bean paste in it. I can't understand your weird eating fads," he said, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

She rolled her eyes. It was more like no one understood the wonderful deliciousness of red bean paste. Even her best friend Tatsuki had tried to get her off her obsession for it.

His hands reached for her face. She leaned in closer, moistening her lips as they were a little dry. Just as their lips touched, a rumble shook the floor. They jumped apart, looking towards the window. Right down the horizon, she could see the tall towering black figure.

Ichigo grunted, reaching into his pocket. "A Menos again? They've been appearing a lot lately," he said, taking out his jewel-shaped shinigami badge. He leaned in and pecked her on the lips. "Stay here okay? I'll be back soon," he said before bringing the badge to his chest. His body slumped on the floor as his soul stepped out, clad in the black shinigami robes, Zangestu in his hands. Orihime grabbed his body and laid it on the couch.

"Please be safe," she said under her breath, as he leaped from the window and into the open.

She looked out of the window. No one had seen the giant hollow, but the spiritual pressure from it was making them uncomfortable. She could see the kids from earlier sitting on the curb, some of their palms pressed to their foreheads.

After what seemed like forever, even though it was only ten minutes, she saw the giant figure of the Menos toppled in the distance, and disintegrate. She went back to the couch, expecting Ichigo to be back soon. However, her cellphone rang. She picked it up, and saw Ichigo's face on the screen. She frowned. Why would he be calling her?

She slid her finger over the screen and lifted the phone to her ear. "Hello, Ichigo?" she asked questioningly. He replied almost immediately. "Can you come to the park now?" he asked, his voice sounding rather frazzled. Worry began to seep in. "Is everything okay? Ichigo, are you hurt?" she asked, ready to reach for the pin on her hair.

"No I'm not, it's just...just get here quick, it's urgent."

"Okay...i'll be there in fifteen minutes," she said, grabbing her purse and keys and heading out of their apartment.

The park was a short distance from her apartment so she could walk. As she walked, she couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong, It could just be Ichigo pranking her for some reason,but it didn't feel right. The air suddenly felt very heavy, as the gates of the park loomed in the distance.

She walked inside, and sensed that the spiritual pressure to her right was stronger, most likely the remnants of the Menos. She walked in that direction, until she found herself in the playground for kids. Across the playground was a clearing where she saw the back of Ichigo's head. He was sitting down next to...a kid?

"Kurosaki-kun!" she yelled. Ichigo turned around, and caught sight of her. He got up and jogged briskly towards her. She walked towards him. "What's going on?" she asked, confused. Ichigo looked at her, his face a mixture of worry and shock. She noticed immediately that something was off about him. "Did something happen?" she pressed again, before Ichigo replied her.

"You might...freak out, but please be calm," he told her, before taking her hand and pulling her to the bench, where she could see the figure of the kid still sitting there.

Ichigo stopped behind the bench. "Look, you have to promise me...please keep calm... I'm scared as hell too, but-" he stopped when he realised Orihime's attention was focused behind him, her eyes wide as saucers.

To say she was shocked would have been simple. She found herself staring into that blank gaze cast by those deep green eyes she thought she would never see again. Pale skin, where his little long raven hair framed his face, and those smouldering eyebrows. His face started to frown, as if he was wondering why on earth she was staring at him like that. He looked about ten years old, she was felt the deepest emotions Orihime thought she would never experience again stir in the depths of her heart. Old grief threatened to wash over her mind, but she could only stand still. She felt her hand slowly rise, as if to reach out for that child, just as she had done before, as if she was afraid he was going to disappear.

She became aware of Ichigo shaking her shoulders, as if to snap her out of her trance, but there was only one thing running through her mind now.

_Ulquiorra-kun._

_**~~Ω~~**_

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**A/N: Please do take a little while to leave a review, it would mean so much to me. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**~~Ω~~**

She sat on the edge of the bed, facing the barren but green wall in front of her. She could make out the texture of the wall, like little valleys, hills and mountains. She stared, her grey eyes wide, thoughts swimming in the murky depths. Her palms were set on her lap, and the wind from outside was blowing gently, but enough to make wisps of her auburn hair tickle her face. Yet she sat, unmoving and unflinching.

One second she was in the park. The next, she was walking briskly home, not waiting for Ichigo, before it turned into a jog. She had tried so hard for so long to convince him she was fine, that she was recovered, from the _tragedy_. She did not want him to see her at her truest- like when she wanted to break down and cry when she saw that _boy._

She didn't know what to feel. Anguish? Sorrow? Sadness? Why are there so many words for the same feeling? But apart from it, over the layers of grief she had kept shut that were threatening to burst out, she felt confusion, like all this was some dramatic irony.

_He could just be some boy who looked like him. Who coincidentally happened to be ten years old._

But no. In her life Orihime never could and never would forget those eyes. People always said it was a shade of teal, but no. It was a cross between emerald and a mint green, a colour so indescribable that she could only think. His pale skin. Choppy but soft black hair. Ten years ago, he was the most beautiful thing that ever existed in her eyes.

Ten years ago.

She suddenly felt guilty. Ichigo. How could she forget him? They loved each other, he helped her get over all the grief. It wasn't fair to bring all this back to him, especially that they were now engaged. She couldn't.

But how was it possible? He looked exactly like him, that dark and unreal thoughts began to pop up in her mind. Something that she couldn't want to possibly consider.

She suddenly felt a presence. The familiar buzz of the blue pins on her hair. He was back. She could hear footsteps echo along the hallway, and then the bedroom door creak open. The edge of the bed heaved slightly as he sat down, at a comfortable distance away from her.

"Hey."

"...Hey."

"You alright there?"

"I'm fine...I was just a little shocked, but I'm alright now," she said, turning to him and putting on the sweetest smile she could at the moment. It drained her.

"Yeah...so was I. The kid really resembled him, huh?"

"Yes, he really did, they could be related or something."

Immediately, they were silent, and awkward pause hanging in the air. The possibility of that was ludicrous, considering he was never really human in the first place, just the manifestation of the thousands of hollows he had eaten over his lifetime. They both knew they were skirting around an uncomfortable topic between the both of them, something they never dared address, that they pushed aside when beginning their own relationship.

Had Orihime forgotten? Had she moved past those dark times?

The unspoken questions hung in the air, both knew but neither dared to answer nor speak up. Ichigo, after having been tired from the dense atmosphere, got up.

"I'm going to go cook dinner now, so why not go have a shower...?" he said carefully. She nodded her head in agreement, and got up and moved towards the closet to grab her garments. Ichigo left, shutting the door, a little too softly.. She walked in the closet, shut the door, and settled on the carpet, drawing her knees up to her chin.

Throughout that short conversation, her pins had been throbbing away, unlike the normal pulse they had whenever sensing reiatsu. She knew, Ichigo was upset. She was always able to tell his emotions, her spiritual abilities could always detect even the smallest irregularities in the reiatsu of people. It had bugged her, and guilt was crashing down on her.

She caught sight of a black box tucked under one of the storage units. She went over to pull it out, reading the label that was written in her own scrawled handwriting.

_High school_

She couldn't remember when she had packed that box. She had completed her high school education about eight years ago, before she went to college. She wondered what she had put inside. She removed the lid, only to find some old stationaries, papers, books and other knick and knacks. Even so, she began to rummage through them.

She read through old comments on her essays, sighted constant 'A's scrawled through the top of most papers, found a few pictures of old friends, and a few other things she had thrown inside. In the midst of randomly sorting through the mess, she sighted something. She pulled it out. Her eyes widened, as she gently pulled it out of the mess.

The dull green and dry fern had withered slightly, and fit in her palm. It might have looked like a random leaf to anyone, but to Orihime, it was a lost treasure. Something that she had not seen for a long time, something that was lost in the back of her memory. It was a long time ago, but the memory appeared fresh in her mind, that made her chest constrict.

_There's not much in Hueco Mundo to offer, other than sand, sand and more sand. However, in the midst of a vast desert there is always an oasis. I plucked this from the tree that freed me from my loneliness. I hope it will make amends._

The corners of her lip tugged upwards, and her grey eyes visibly brightened as she reminisced the moment. Slowly she stroked the little fern no bigger than, her palm, delicately smoothing her fingers over the prickly tips. It didn't look too dry anymore, where a glistening drop hung from one of the tips, sparkling and looking out of place on the otherwise dead looking thing.

In such a quiet whisper that she couldn't even hear herself she mumbled.

_Ulquiorra-kun._

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_so im really confused how to spell, is it gray or grey ughh both sounds right to me :-( and thanks for the people who left a comment on the first chapter!_

_Anyway leave a review if you would pleaseeee, tell me what you think so far!_


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: i've finally managed to write this. It took me a while, constantly re-writing this, because the concept is, admittedly hard to write, and make it, well make sense. **  
**anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

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**~~Ω~~**

It is late in the afternoon, and Orihime strolls down the road, her arms full of plastic bags containing groceries. The afternoon sun beats down on her, and beads of sweat roll down the side of her forehead. She instantly wished she had brought her floppy hat, the one Ichigo had gotten for her. She already knew he was going to yell if he found out she went without it, but honestly that thing was a hassle to carry around, but she wouldn't tell him that of course.

The rest of the Kurosakis were coming over for dinner today, and Orihime chuckled at the memory of the phone call she had had with Karin last night, when she had suggested cooking for once. She was met with a choked splutter from Karin, and a chorus of "NO'S" from the background, including one from Ichigo from the living room. She had dramatically sighed and pretended to be hurt, but honestly Orihime was no stranger to the fact that she had an absurd taste in food that usually accompanied her cooking.

As Orihime dug around her bag to message Yuzu, she stopped abruptly, as she noticed she was standing right in front of the park.

_The park, _she thought, and the mind baffling events that had occurred nearly two weeks ago came to her again. It was still fresh on her mind, and the face of the young boy was seared onto her mind, almost painfully.

The resemblance might have been coincidental, but it was too rare and unusual of a coincidence. Ulquiorra Schiffer was an Arrancar, and many of the Arrancar did not have distinctive looks of normal people at all, even though they were pretty much human-like. Though he did nothing but sit on a bench and stare at Orihime, the little doppelganger possessed the grim-like aura of the former Cuatro Espada, the kind that made you feel cold all of a sudden and took much getting used to, and that was what had really done it for her, for it had been a while since she had encountered it.

Since then, Ichigo had been very careful around Orihime, and never talked about it at all. She had however, heard from Yuzu that Jinta had noticed Ichigo coming to see Urahara several times in the last two weeks. While the two were close acquaintances, Ichigo made it a point to avoid Urahara as much as possible unless absolutely necessary, as the man practically spelled danger, always trying to sell Orihime some suspicious looking items. Orihime had wanted to ask Ichigo about his trips, but she could never quite bring herself to do it.

Orihime was suddenly aware that her arms and shoulders were aching from carrying the groceries, and was about to set them on the ground for a while when she thought, _why not I just sit for a while inside the park? _A fresh and cool breeze was coming in, and it offered much respite from the blistering sun. She started to walk inside the park to find a bench, and hopefully a different spot from the last time.

As she walked, a couple of kids ran past her, shoving and yelling at each other. Orihime realised that at this point in the afternoon many children would be coming to the park to play. The voices of children screaming and shouting gleefully eventually amplified as she walked further, and she realised that the playground was right in front of her.

She found a comfortable seat a certain distance from the playground, where she put her bags on the ground, and folded her hands across her laps, watching the children climb up and run around. Orihime had a small smile on her face. She loved children, in fact, she was currently working as a teacher at a kindergarten in Karakura. She chuckled to herself, remembering the many times when she was a teenager when she had fantasized about how she would grow up and have a family with Ichigo and wake up to little orange heads running about the house.

While she was now older and engaged to Ichigo, she should rightfully be happy that he dreams were, to put it in a cliché way, coming true, but Orihime had changed, and matured. She might still hold her bubbly and cheerful diposition, but deep down, she felt like an old soul, having been through too much loss, having been forced to become too wise for her age. War and heartbreak had weathered her down, and sometimes on those bad days when she would remember again, she felt akin to a stone.

The people in Karakura who were very much involved in the spiritual world- Ichigo, herself, the Kurosakis, Ishida, Sado, Urahara and company- they were all very much on the edge. Karakura was ranked number one on Soul Society's list of most dangerous towns, very much due to the increased amount of spiritual pressure the town had compared to anywhere else in Japan. The events from a few years back had pretty much shaped the town a lot, and many more were born with the power to see the spiritual side of the world. When Aizen has come to destroy Karakura, and before that, Orihime's abduction by…

The bench beside her creaked a little, drawing her out of her thoughts. It appears that someone had sat beside her, and she edged a little further to give the person some space. She never glanced at the person, assuming it to be a stranger.

She watched the children play, and took her small purse to fish out her phone. She checked the time, to see that she had some time till she had to leave for home.

Her eyes glanced to the side of the seat, they were both sharing, and saw that there was a hand on the bench, a small, bony and pale one. Orihime's eyes widened by a fraction, and turned to look at the person next to her.

Her phone clattered to the ground, as a shocked gasp escaped her. She was frozen.

He did not appear to be too startled. He bent to down to pick her phone for her, his long black hair shielding his face, as he bent. He turned to face her, as he placed the phone in her palm, his piercing emerald ones meeting her wide grey ones.

"Here," he said. Orihime did not know what she was expecting to hear, maybe the deep resounding baritone that she had not quite forgotten. But what came out was the small voice of a child, a little boy. The only similarity she could pick out was the dullness in his voice, so much like _his._

She did not even respond nor say a thank you. She could only stare. Now that they were at a much closer proximity, she observed that his hair was slightly shorter, and there were no green tear marks down his eyes. His eyebrows were not as thick, and when she looked at his hands, his fingernails were that of a normal colour, and not black. His complexion was unfamiliar to her. He was not deathly white, nor did he have much colour. He was just pale.

Her eyes dropped to his collar bone. He was wearing a little Power Rangers tanktop, and his collarbone was visible. There was no hollow hole. No white mask adorning his head.

He was short, and he did not look too young either. He looked about nine, or even ten years old.

He looked so _human._

"Miss, please don't stare at me like that. It is unnerving."

She was snapped out of her trance, and at that point she nearly wanted to laugh. The way he talked sounded so much like Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she said apologetically, looking away.

"I saw you the other day. With the other man too. You both have orange hair," he said, as if stating a scientific fact.

"Oh yeah, I-" but he wasn't done yet.

"You were both staring at me, as If you'd seen a ghost. The kids at the home already hate me, but I didn't know I scared grown up people too," he said, and Orihime noticed that his voice diverted from its usual monotone, to one with a hint of sadness. Her heart tightened. Well at the time, it _was _like they had seen a ghost.

Ulquiorra was supposed to be dead.

"I'm really sorry we made you feel that way… you just reminded us of… of someone we used to know," she said.

"Who is he?" he asked bluntly, his eyes boring into hers.

"He was… a friend."

"Was?"

"He's not around anymore."

"Where did he go?"

Orihime really looked at him then. This child was really innocent to the world. And more importantly, Orihime could not help but remember that Ulquiorra wasn't the type to to ask so many questions unless absolutely necessary.

_What am I even thinking? This child isn't Ulquiorra, Inoue. Get you head together._

"I'm not sure."

Ulqui- the kid says nothing after that, and they both sit in silence. Orihime thinks. She might not meet him after this. And as much as this was scaring her, she could not help but feel there was more to this that just a coincidence. Even as she was sitting next to him, she could feel a slight density in reiatsu when she focused more. There was more to the kid then just the appearance of a former Espada.

"You said the other kids hate you. Why?" she asked slowly.

He continued to stare at the playground. "I scare them. They say I look like a ghost, and that I'm too pale to be a human. And then-" he pauses, and continues in a lower voice, "there are the monsters."

Orihime stills. "Monsters?" she asks.

"It's the reason why they keep moving me around. They say that I'm cursed. Because wherever I go…the monsters follow."

"Do these monsters… do they try to attack you?" she asks, eyes widening.

"No. I don't know, but they wreak havoc among the kids. They break stuff. Come near them. Try to attack them."

Orihime was now sure of it. These 'monsters' he spoke of. They were hollows. They were attracted to his reiatsu. But why wouldn't they attack him then? The memory of Sora turning into Acidwire and going after her suddenly returned to her, and a chill passed through her body.

"I see… Why have you come to the park alone? Where are your family, friends?" she asked.

"They bring us every afternoon to the park to play. The people at the home. I have no friends, like I said, they hate me."

"And I have no family."

Orihime realised, he had said people at _the_ home, and not people at home.

"You live… in an orphanage?"

"Yes."

Orihime's heart squeezed so painfully, and just dropped from its confines. The overwhelming sympathy she now felt for him was making her eyes moisten with tears.

His green eyes widened a little. "Miss, why are you crying?"

She didn't realise she had allowed a stray tear to flow from her eye. "No…no it's just that I feel really sad to hear this. No child should ever have to be this lonely," she said, sniffling a little.

He said nothing, but dug his hands through the pockets of the shorts he was wearing, and pulled out a silken handkerchief. He folded it into a triangle. And before Orihime could process what was happening, he knelt on the bench to reach her face, and dabbed the handkerchief on her cheeks, albeit a little clumsily.

"Don't cry. I don't like to see people cry. It scares me," he says in his monotone.

If Orihime could, she would have hugged him and squeezed him to her chest right about now.

She smiled, a little moisture still in her eyes. "There, I'm not crying now, okay? Thank you…" and then it struck her. She had no idea… what his name was.

"What is your name?" she asks him, her breath catching.

He looks up at her, his green eyes a little bigger. He seemed to be suspicious of her, but eventually he looked as if he trusted her. After all, she was a random stranger asking him so many personal questions.

"Ulquiorra. Just Ulquiorra."

Orihime wasn't sure if the booming sound of thunder that she heard came from the skies, or inside her head. _No, this is impossible. It can't be. It's too much. _

_How?_

_How can it be?_

_Is he really… is he really somehow Ulquiorra Cifer?_

She spluttered, her jaw dropping.

"Who…who gave you your name?" she choked out.

He was looking at her strangely. "I suppose my parents, before they abandoned me. All I know is that that is my name. That is what I've been told, and called."

"I…I…" she was now at a loss of words.

And saving her from her state of shock, was the buzzing of her phone, it's noisy ringtone shattering the tension in the air. She hastily slid "Answer" and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Orihime? Where are you?" Ichigo's voice flowed, a hint of worry in his voice. "You were supposed to be home half an hour ago!"

"Oh I'm sorry Kurosaki-kun, I was… I'm at the park. I decided to sit down for awhile."

"Are your bags to heavy? Do you want me to come help you?"

"No, no, it's fine! I can manage it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes…" She soon ended the call with Ichigo, and turned to face the kid… Ulquiorra again.

He wasn't here anymore. She turned around, looking around her, but he was gone. He had already left.

Orihime sighed. She did not ask where his home was, or anything more. Would she ever meet him again? She didn't know.

She picked up the plastic bags from the ground, and got up from the creaking bench, and headed back home.

The mystery of Ulquiorra Cifer was making her head pound, and was slowly bring forth memories she had never wanted to remember again.

It would hurt to remember, everything that had happened ten years ago. How much her life had changed since then, and the empty, hollow feeling of loss that had been her only company in the aftermath, when she had sunk into depths, depths that made it hard for anyone, not even Tatsuki, not Ichigo, to pull her out.

_Just who exactly are you?_

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**a/n: okay so i bet alot of you might be wondering alot about this ulquiorra? is he a reincarnation of sorts? And i'm not sure I any of you have picked it up, but yes Orihime will be slightly OOC in this story. This was set 10 years after the war, and the characters in the story would have matured vastly and changed since then. Particularly Orihime, but for reasons you will find out later in the coming chapters. **

**as always, please _please_ do show me some support if you're liking this so far, tell me what you think, anything you think should be improved and feedback. Anything is welcome. **

**thank Ü for reading!**


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